NVIDIA today is set to launch its newest midrange graphics card part, the GeForce 8800 GT, previously known by its codename G92. NVIDIA guidance states that its newest graphics card will be sold at a retail price in the $199 and $249 price range.

Development around the G92 processor revolved around reducing the thermal and power draw on the GeForce 8800 GTX (G80) processor. G80 was manufactured on TSMC's 90nm process node while the G92 is manufactured on TSMC's 65nm node. This shrink allows a single 8800 GT to operate on a 105 Watt draw, almost 80 Watts less than the 8800 GTX during heavy operation.

Top-to-bottom, the GeForce 8800 GT fits snugly between NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB, which NVIDIA sets at a retail price of $349, and NVIDIA's GeForce 8600 GTS, which is sold for $149.

The GeForce 8800 GT sports a 100 MHz speed bump over the 8800 GTS, and comes factory clocked at 600 MHz. The 600 MHz clock speed of the 8800 GT is actually 25 MHz higher than the 8800 GTX's default GPU clock, which is set at 575 MHz. The 8800 GT's clock speed also comes within striking distance of the GeForce 8800 Ultra's 612 MHz GPU clock speed.

The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT features 112 stream processors, 16 fewer than the 128 stream processors found on the ultra high-end 8800 GTX and 16 more than the 96 stream processors found on NVIDIA's 8800 GTS.

The stream processors of the 8800 GT come clocked at 1500 MHz, the same speed as the stream processors of the GeForce 8800 Ultra. Comparatively, the GeForce 8800 GTX comes with its stream processors clocked at 1350 MHz while the 8800 GTS' stream processors are clocked at 1200 MHz.

The GeForce 8800 GT features up to 1024MB of GDDR3 memory, which is based on a 256-bit memory interface. According to NVIDIA, total memory bandwidth rings in at 57.6 GBps, and the texture fill rate is 33.6 billion/second. Naturally, the two preceding figures are only theoretical values; actual values are bound to be quite different.

The GDDR3 memory of the GeForce 8800 GT comes clocked at 900 MHz -- equal to the memory frequency of the GeForce 8800 GTX. However, the 8800 GT falls short of the 8800 Ultra's memory speed, which is 1080 MHz (2160 MHz effective).

High-definition video fans will be glad to hear that the GeForce 8800 GT comes integrated with support for NVIDIA's 2nd generation PureVideo HD engine, which allows for H.264 video decoding to be offloaded from the processor and on to the video card. HDCP support is also present on all reference designs.

NVIDIA guidance promises a hard launch with its GeForce 8800 GT cards, however, so far only Gigabyte, Palit and Zotac have 8800 GT-based offerings. Newegg independently confirmed with DailyTech that the card will be available online after the 6AM embargo lift.

"Well, we didn't have anyone in line that got shot waiting for our system." -- Nintendo of America Vice President Perrin Kaplan